It’s not that World War Z is bad. Any movie with star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster—whose resume swings from Stranger Than Fiction to Machine Gun Preacher-—can’t be bad. It can, however, be pretty mediocre.

Fans of Max Brooks’ novel World War Z would probably say the failure comes from subverting the novel’s structure—a collection of accounts of the zombie war set 10 years after its end—and setting the movie at the beginning of the conflict. Maybe that’s the problem, but I’d argue a movie’s job isn’t to be faithful to its story’s origins; it’s to be an entertaining movie. World War Z is not. It has all the elements of a decent zombie adventure story, but it’s so derivative it’s impossible not to spend the movie tracing the story arcs back to other places.

For example, Gerry Lane (Pitt), a U.N. investigator, spends much of the film looking for patient zero, the first person infected with the virus (or whatever it is) that’s turning people into zombies. See also: Contagion. Of course, he’s retired and lured back into service. See also: Rambo: First Blood Part II.

More derivation: The zombies can move really quickly (Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake) or really slowly (George A. Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead). The music sounds like Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” (The Exorcist). The world seems to be ending (every apocalypse movie, but let’s go with the recent spate, including This is the End, Warm Bodies, The Host, and the Resident Evil series).

And in what must be coincidence—because the screenplay isn’t smart enough for it to be purposeful—a World Health Organization doctor tells Gerry not to hit zombies with blunt objects because it just riles them up. If you recall Blazing Saddles, co-
written and directed by novelist Brooks’ father Mel Brooks, you shouldn’t shoot Mongo because it just makes him mad.

That’s a long way of saying the mind wanders when it should be concentrating on the zombie plague, which crashes down in the first 10 minutes. The following 100 minutes are spent fleeing and figuring out what went wrong, and the bursts of zombie menace are timed to stave off boredom while Pitt broods. It doesn’t help, by the way, that his name is Gerry, and that his boss’ name is Thierry (which is pronounced, as we remember from French class, “Terry”).

The other thing one notices is the movie’s confused gender politics. Gerry is married to Karin (Mireille Enos), who does a pretty good job keeping the family alive. But of course she’s attacked and he saves her. Then there’s a convenient plot excuse for her to stay behind with the kids while he saves the world.

Gerry teams up with a tough Israeli soldier (Daniella Kertesz). But then he has to save her, too. It’s as if the four credited screenwriters (all men) couldn’t decide whether to let the women kick ass or make dinner, so they let them half-do both. And as we all know, saving the world is man’s work.

Maybe the women will have other things to do in the sequel. Because you know there’s a set-up for a sequel, right? Of course you did.

Perhaps Israel wasn’t the best environment for Yonatan Gat to grow as a musician. “The thing about Israel is, it’s very small and very isolated,” said Gat, who now lives in Brooklyn. “Personally, I found the kind of music that I am excited about is not a really good fit for Israel. It’s a very

If you’ve never heard of Jordan Rock, who’ll take the stage at Piedmont Virginia Community College on February 28, you can be forgiven. He’s never played Charlottesville, and his Web presence isn’t exactly on the level of an “Ultimate Split.” Come to think of it, his Web presence isn’t really

Author Edwidge Danticat weaves stories of strong women overcoming hardship and forging new identities in unfamiliar places. Born in Haiti, Danticat moved to Brooklyn when she was 12 years old, and the experience of transporting from one culture to another has since informed her writing, which

Robin Wynn said Google might lead you astray if you’re looking to find out what she’s up to these days. A C’ville-based songwriter who toured extensively from 2005 to 2008 and saw one of her songs get attention from NPR’s “All Songs Considered,” Wynn recently licensed a tune to the CW show

Watch the documentary I’m Not Racist… Am I? and you can’t help but ask yourself the same question. The story unfolds around 12 students of varying backgrounds who complete a year-long program of workshops and discussions about race and privilege. As they grapple with these issues, the students

Observing the fantastic world of The Convolution of Pip and Twig, it’s as if you’ve stepped through the looking glass and into a children’s pop-up book. The minimal, vibrant set uses low tech manipulations, visual metaphor and physical magic to tell a story almost entirely without words, and

Mid-month is usually a pretty quiet time in a local art gallery. First Fridays crowds have long since returned home and the promise of free wine and cheese is a faint memory. But the downtown Charlottesville gallery scene isn’t dead between opening and closing receptions. Many would argue that

The creators of the original singing Tesla coils are ready to blind you with science at ArcAttack. Backed by a robotic drummer, the group of high-tech rock wizards creates a musical spectacle by generating electrical arcs—each reaching up to 12 feet long—that act as instruments, creating

Confession: I’ve never read a comic book. Sure, I housed volumes of Calvin & Hobbes as a child, but I always took the snooty literary view of comics. They were fine for teenage boys and any woman inexplicably drawn to gratuitous violence and triple-D boobs, but I reserved my highbrow tastes

I don’t know who or what director Sam Taylor-Johnson sacrificed to the god of false bondage, but it worked: Fifty Shades of Grey is the best film it could have possibly been given the circumstances. This is quite a different thing from saying it’s good. It’s not. At its core, this adaptation of

UVA Drama presents an evening of “bite-size” dramas entitled Vodka Variations, adapted from short stories by Anton Chekhov. The production examines the colorful world of 1890s Russia with hilarious and heartwarming glimpses into the lives of everyday people in search of love, happiness and a

Charlottesville is a music town, no doubt. What other small city can boast that it’s seen the likes of The Rolling Stones, U2 and Lady Gaga come through, not to mention hosts a healthy local scene that’s launched a couple of groups into straight-up rock stardom and keeps a slew of smaller

In January, Charlottesville audiences experienced Renée Fleming’s artistry on the big screen at The Paramount Theater’s HD broadcast of The Metropolitan Opera’s live performance of Lehar’s The Merry Widow. On Friday, February 20, Fleming will grace the stage in person, and while opera houses

There’s something about the trees. As I walk through the exhibit, I pause to study each painting, but the trunk of a pastel pine tree stops me. Every stroke on its limbs is a living gesture, each green leaf and blue shadow a flick. The pastel landscape glows with the artist’s movements, each

Indulge in the food of love with your sweetheart at the Charlottesville Symphony’s tribute to the romance of Shakespeare. Kate Tamarkin conducts a program chock full of starry-eyed, heartwarming works, including Mendelssohn’s “Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Prokofiev’s “Suites No. 1

Sing and dance your Valentine’s blues away at the theme night Unlucky in Love: A Night of Outlaw Country with a Side of Garage with four of central Virginia’s rowdiest honky-tonk acts. Drunk Luke & The Broken Bottles bring some raucous country sing-alongs about frolicking, fighting, and

The room will be filled with love long before the first guest arrives at the second annual Country Sweethearts Valentine’s Day show at the Southern on Saturday. The women on the bill, Terri Allard, Holly Renee Allen, Tara Mills and Sally Rose, have such affection and admiration for each other

In the vein of Keller Williams and other one-man bands, Philip Cogley, a.k.a. The Saturday Giant, produces three, four, sometimes five separate tracks at a time during live performances using a guitar, a drum machine, keyboards, and a loop machine. Atop all of his instruments, he adds warm

Aspiring yogis and curious connoisseurs of contemporary art, unite! Second Street Gallery is hosting another installment of the monthly Second Saturday Yoga Art Grooves series that launched in the fall of 2014. A collaboration between Opal Yoga and Second Street Gallery, each event in the